Muawiyah I

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Muawiyah I, also known as Muˤāwiyya I, or Muˤāwiyya ibn Abī-Sufyān ()(602 - May 6, 680) was the fifth Muslim caliph and founder of the Umayyad dynasty of Islamic caliphs. He fought against the fourth caliph, Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law), seized Egypt, and assumed the caliphate after Ali's assassination in 661. He reigned from 661 to 680.

Because he opposed Ali, whom the Shia Muslims believe was Muhammad's true successor (see Succession to Muhammad), he has been hated and reviled by generations of Shi'a.

Early life

Muawiyah ibn Abi-Sufyan was born (c. 602) into a powerful clan, (Banu Abd Shams), of the tribe of the Quraysh. The Quraysh controlled the city of Mecca, in what is now northwestern Saudi Arabia, and the Banu Abd-Shams were among the most influential of its citizens. Muawiyah's father was Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and mother was Hind bint Utbah.

Many of the Abd-Shams opposed and persecuted the Islamic prophet Muhammad when he was preaching his new faith in Mecca, and joined in the armed battles that followed the flight of Muhammad and his followers to Medina.

In 630 CE, Muhammad and his followers conquered Mecca, and most of the Meccans, including the Abd-Shams, formally submitted to Muhammad and to Islam.

According to some historians Muāwiyya accepted Islam in defiance of his relatives. The Shi'a dispute this and charge that Muawiyah did not convert until after the conquest of Mecca made it politically expedient to do so.

Muhammad was merciful to his former opponents, letting them join his armies and hold important posts in the expanding Islamic empire. Muawiyah became one of Muhammad's scribes. After Muhammad's death in 632, he served in the Islamic army sent against the Byzantine forces in present-day Syria. He held a high rank in the Muslim Army and as such commanded much influence on the selection and support of the new caliph. When he witheld support for Ali, he was unable to rule effectively. He served with his brother Yazid, who was appointed governor of the newly conquered province.

Governor of Syria

Upon the death of Yazid in 640, Muawiyah was appointed Governor of Syria by Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab and gradually gained mastery over the other areas of Syria, instilling remarkable personal loyalty among his troops and the people of the region. By 647, Muawiyah had built a Syrian army strong enough to repel a Byzantine attack and, in subsequent years, to take the offensive against the Byzantines in campaigns that resulted in the capture of Cyprus (649) and Rhodes (654) and a devastating defeat of the Byzantine navy off the coast of Lycia (655). At the same time, Muawiyah periodically dispatched land expeditions into Anatolia.

All these campaigns came to a halt with the accession of Ali to the caliphate, when a new and decisive phase of Muawiyah's career began.

Conflict with Ali

As a kinsman of the slain caliph Uthman ibn Affan, Muawiyah bore the duty of revenge. Because Ali did not apprehend and punish Uthman's murderers, Muawiyah regarded him as an accomplice to the murder and refused to acknowledge his caliphate. However, he did not participate in the Rebellion of Aisha (the prophet's widow), Talha and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam who went to war against Ali in the Battle of the Camel. Ali was victorious and pardoned Aisha, had her escorted to Medina and allocated her a pension.

Ali then turned towards Syria, which was in open revolt under her governor. He marched to the Euphrates and engaged Muawiyah's troops at the famous Battle of Siffin (657). There Muawiyah's guile turned near defeat into a truce. Resorting to a strategy that played upon the religious sensibilities of Ali's forces, he ordered his troops to hoist copies of the Qur'an on their lances, as a request for religious arbitration. He thus persuaded the enemy to enter into negotiations that ultimately cast doubt on the legitimacy of Alī's caliphate and alienated a sizable number of his supporters. When these former supporters - the Kharijites - rose in rebellion against Alī, Muawiyah took advantage of Ali's difficulties in Iraq to send a force to seize control of Egypt.

When Alī was assassinated in 661, Muawiyah held both Syria and Egypt and, as commander of the largest force in the Muslim Empire, had the strongest claim to the Caliphate. Ali's son Hasan, after initial defiance of Muawiyah, ceased hostilities and retired to Medina, where he lived a quiet private life.

Sunni Muslims claim that Hasan pledged allegiance to Muawiyah. Most Shi'a Muslims say that he never pledged allegiance, merely ceased to advance his claim to the caliphate. This was done out of consideration for the supporters of Ali's family, who had been much reduced during the tumults of Ali's caliphate.

Rule

After his accession to the position of Caliph, Muawiyah governed the geographically and politically disparate Caliphate, which spread from Egypt in the West to Iran in the East, by strengthening the power of his allies in the newly conquered Arab territories. Prominent positions within the emerging governmental structures were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served in Byzantine governments. The employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious tolerance that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, especially in Syria itself. This policy also boosted his popularity and solidified Syria as his power base. Muawiyah instituted several Byzantine-style bureaucracies, called diwans, to aid him in the governance and the centralization of the Caliphate and the empire. Early Arabic sources credit two diwans in particular to Muawiyah: the Diwan al-Khatam "Chancellery" and the Barid "Postal Service", both of which greatly improved communications within the empire.

Muawiyah died May 6, 680. He was succeeded by his son Yazid I. Muawiyah had held the expanding empire together by force of his personality, through personal allegiances, in the style of a traditional Arab shaykh.

Legacy

Muawiyah greatly beautified Damascus and developed a court to rival that of the Byzantines. He expanded the frontiers of the empire, reaching the very gates of Constantinople at one point, though failing to hold any territory in Asia Minor. Sunni Muslims credit him with saving the fledgling Muslim nation from post civil war anarchy.

One of Muawiyah's most controversial and enduring legacies was his decision to designate his son as his successor, thereby converting the Caliphate from an elective office to a dynasty. According to Shi'a doctrine, this was a clear violation of the treaty he made with Hasan, in which he said he would not make his son his successor. He attempted to preserve the form of the election however, by causing his nobles and the chiefs of the empire to elect and swear allegiance to his son in his own lifetime, a tradition that endured for several succeeding dynasties.

Sunni view of Muawiyah

Some Sunni historians saw his rule, and that of the Umayyad dynasty that followed him, as a descent into mere worldly rule; kingship rather than religious leadership. Some Sunni historians criticize Muawiyah as an intriguer and a lukewarm Muslim , but others advocate restraint in critiquing his character and regime, citing his status as a companion of Muhammad and as a narrator of some hadith Sunnis consider sound. Numerous Sunni ahadeeth, even of Sahih quality are available to ascertain Muawiyah's position as a Muslim:

Allah, make him guided, a guider, and guide people through him. (Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, Book of Virtues #3824 and Sahih Al-Tirmidhi #3018)

Furthermore, Sahih Bukhari portrays Muawiya as a peace-loving man who cared for the Muslim women and children, so as not to allow them to become widows and orphans.

...Muawiya who was really the best of the two men said to him, "O 'Amr! If these killed those and those killed these, who would be left with me for the jobs of the public, who would be left with me for their women, who would be left with me for their children?" Then Muawiya sent two Quraishi men from the tribe of 'Abd-i-Shams called 'Abdur Rahman bin Sumura and Abdullah bin 'Amir bin Kuraiz to Al-Hasan saying to them, "Go to this man (i.e. Al-Hasan) and negotiate peace with him and talk and appeal to him." So, they went to Al-Hasan and talked and appealed to him to accept peace..." (Sahih Bukhari 3:49:867)

Shi'a view of Muāwiyya

The Shi'a tend to vilify Muawiyah. His supposed conversion to Islam before the conquest of Mecca is dismissed as a fable, or mere hypocrisy. He is said to have opposed Ali, the rightful Caliph, out of sheer greed for power and wealth. His reign opened the door to unparalleled disaster, marked by persecution of Ali and his followers, resulting in Yazid I coming into power, shortly followed by the Battle of Karbala. He is said to have killed many of Muhammad's companions (Sahaba), either in battle or by poison, due to his lust for power.